recapture

Etymology

It is formed from English re- + capture,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the noun first and the verb about a century later, perhaps formed to go with the noun.^[2][7][3] Capture is from French capture (“a taking”), from Latin captūra (“a taking”), from captus, the past participle of capiō (“to take, hold, seize”), from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grasp”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of capturing, or being captured, a second time: 1676, in Charles Molloy's De Jure Maritimo.^[2][7] Etymonline dates the noun to the 1680s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

By 1750 the noun also meant the thing recaptured, especially a ship.^[2] The verb, to capture again or recover by capture, followed in the late 18th century,^[2][7][3][5] and its figurative sense, to recover something lost or live again a past feeling, is first found in Browning in 1845.^[2] In American usage the word also names the lawful taking by government of part of the profits of a public utility.^[8]

Timeline

• 1676 – noun, retaking by capture.^[2][7] Etymonline dates it to the 1680s.^[3]
• 1750 – noun, something recaptured, especially a ship.^[2]
• 1774 – verb, to capture again.^[7] The OED's first record is from 1784, Etymonline's from 1783.^[2][3]
• 1845 – verb, figurative, to recover or live again something lost, in Browning.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To capture again; to retake: Police recaptured the escaped prisoner within hours.^[8][7][2]
2. To recover or experience again something lost or past, such as a feeling or mood: The film tries to recapture the spirit of the sixties.^[8][7][2]
3. (US) Of a government, to take lawfully part of the profits of a public utility.^[8]

Noun

1. The act of recapturing, or the fact of being recaptured.^[8][7][2]
2. Something recaptured, especially a ship.^[2][5]

Word family

• recapturable
• unrecaptured

Related words

• captive
• captor
• capture

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins